Hermione Granger is the Brightest Witch of Her Age
by LittleKisses
Summary: Hermione finds hurtful things about herself written in the girls bathroom. She's horrified and fascinated by it, going to read it every day. Only one person notices the toll it takes on Hermione and decides to help. Read&Review!


**Hello everybody! I'm back. Who missed me? I've been reading loads of fanfiction lately where Hermione and Draco are dating… and Hermione becomes friends with Pansy. And I started to think about this relationship and I realized that it isn't so ridiculous. In the books to me at least, it always seemed that Pansy really cared for Draco and wanted him to be happy. And if Hermione Granger was what made him happy, then Pansy would slowly accept that and be sort of all: If you hurt Draco, I'll hurt you. But in the end they would have this sort of strange friendship as they realized that they weren't so different. They both cared and loved the same person and the two of them were both smart and powerful (at least that's how I see Pansy and Hermione in my head). Anyway so this story was partly created due to that and because of my very good friend who is a huge Glee fan and reads me the fanfiction she likes, hoping I might someday write a Puckleberry ficlet. Anyway there was this one story. (Do any of you watch Glee? Heck, do any of you read the Author's Notes?) In which Rachel Berry is reading some cruel comments on her MySpace page and a Quinn Fabray sees her reading them and gets everyone on Glee to write something nice about Rachel on the website. That was partly my thought when I started to outline this. I really hope y'all like this story-I'm proud of it. On another note, I'm starting high school tomorrow which is why I'm starting to post again, I wrote a few stories over the summer that I plan on posting throughout the year, last year I found out that it was too hard for me to write fanfic and manage to get all As. So I will probably only write during breaks and post what I've already written.**

**Disclaimer: Would I write fanfic if I could have had the honor of writing these books? **

Hermione Granger is a slut.

Hermione Granger is a Mudblood.

Hermione Granger is a nag.

Hermione Granger doesn't deserve to have magic.

Hermione Granger is fucking Filch.

Hermione Granger is fucking Harry Potter and Ron Weasley,

Figures, the whore.

Hermione Granger should just die.

Hermione Granger blinked back tears as she read the graffiti on the bathroom wall. How could people be so cruel? How could they know what your weakest points were, and how to hit them the hardest?

She traced the graffiti lightly with shaking fingertips. Pulling out her intricately carved, vinewood wand, she whispered _Deleo_*. The words didn't go away. They'd been carved into the door with a quill and ink, not with magic. And only time could erase that.

Hermione blew her nose noisily, took a few deep breaths and then stepped out of the bathroom stall, praying she was alone and that nobody would be there to see her red eyes and nose, and the tearstains that were drying on her cheeks. She wasn't.

There, reapplying her dark red lipstick in the cracked and dingy bathroom mirror was Pansy Parkinson. Now Pansy had mellowed out a bit after the war. While she was a servant to Voldemort she realized that it wasn't all it cracked up to be and that Voldemort himself wasn't a pureblood. And so Pansy defected, bringing Draco Malfoy with her. The two of them took on Snape's role in the war, feeding the Order of the Phoenix information on where the Dark Lord would strike next so that they could intervene. During that time, Pansy (who hadn't been in Voldemort's inner circle and therefore didn't spend as much time in Malfoy Manor as Draco did since he lived there) and Hermione had become civil with each other. They weren't best friends or even close friends but they were on the same side, fighting for the same thing. And that's the sort of thing you can't do without growing to understand the person fighting beside you.

Pansy looked the young witch up and down, seeing her rumpled clothes, the loosened tie, the redness of her eyes and the tear trails that had dried on Hermione's cheeks. There was only one conclusion that Pansy could come to. Hermione Granger had been crying.

"Alright there Granger?" Hermione swallowed as she stepped next to Pansy and began to wash her hands, keeping up the pretense that everything was fine and that she hadn't just been crying. But when she saw herself through the dirty mirror, she knew that Pansy could see right through the act. Her face was pale, contrasting with her pink nose and reddened eyes. Her hair was bushier then usual, an effect of her running her hands through her hair while she cried.

"Yes Parkinson, why wouldn't I be?" Hermione kept her voice deceptively light and cheery, as though nothing was wrong and she hoped that the other witch couldn't see through the cracks in her façade. But Hermione underestimated the Slytherin girl's ability to tell when somebody was lying to her (and to be honest, the Gryffindor's attempt was quite weak really and there was the tiny fact that Hermione had come out of that stall crying two times already that week).

Pansy simply nodded though and continued to redo her makeup, waiting until Hermione walked out of the girl's bathroom. Then she walked to the stall that Hermione had been in and looked inside.

Her eyes widened at the hateful slurs on the wall. Pansy was cruel but even she wasn't that terrible. Whipping her wand out of her sleeve she spoke the same spell that Hermione had tried earlier. Just like the first time, it did nothing. Pansy walked back out of the small area. The black-haired witch frantically thought of ways to fix this. She didn't like Hermione. Really. But if Hermione was going to cry every time she came out of that stall while Pansy was doing her daily seventh period bathroom break and reapplication of her dark make up then she had to do something. If she didn't, she'd end up feeling sorry for the girl and she simply couldn't have that. Pity gave her indigestion. She paced the tiled floor for a minute thinking. Suddenly, her eyes brightened and she gave the empty bathroom a self-satisfied smirk. She had an idea. Now all she needed were the people she planned to enlist to keep Hermione normal every time she left the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NEXT DAY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione was a girl of routine. She did her Charms essays on Mondays, Potions essays Tuesdays, Arithmancy on Wednesday, and so on. In the early mornings while she drank her pumpkin juice and ate her typical toast with jam and butter she would read a book, usually a muggle classic. Then she would walk to her classes with the same people, raise her hand every time a professor asked a question, earn points for Gryffindor, argue with Ron, go to lunch eat her typical salad with bacon, drink her pumpkin juice and read a book, usually wizard fairytales after that, she would go to her afternoon classes. Then at 7th period she would always take a bathroom break as she generally finished her work in that class quite early.

But today was different. Today she skipped her routine bathroom break. She didn't want to face the bathroom graffiti today. She didn't want to cry today. So while she continued through her classes, the need to go to the bathroom grew bigger and bigger. Finally, during her Arithmancy class, she raised her hand and asked Professor Vector to allow her to go to the bathroom. Unbeknownst to her, Pansy's dark blue eyes followed her as she left the room. Hurrying through the hallways she quickly walked into the bathroom. The Gryffindor had planned to use another bathroom but this was the closest one to her class. So she decided to simply use another stall. But every stall was taken except for that one. She hastily made her way into the stall that had caused her such torment then shut and bolted the door. And that's when she saw the words.

Written over the cruel words that scarred the heavy wooden door and typically made Hermione cry, were new words. Written is shining silver ink these phrases beckoned to her, like a moth to a flame and she got closer to the door to read them.

_Hermione Granger is a genius._

_Hermione Granger is the Brightest Witch of Our Age_

_Hermione Granger is a hero_

_Hermione Granger is beautiful_

_Hermione Granger is a wonderful friend_

_She's a true Gryffindor_

_Hermione Granger is kind to everyone._

_Hermione Granger is loved._

Tears filled her coppery eyes but unlike the tears she'd shed previously this week, they were tears of joy. She had wonderful friends and she'd never loved them more. With trembling ink stained hand she traced one of the sentences, _Hermione Granger is loved. _She frowned though as something finally beeped in her brain. Who'd written these things? And who had found out about the graffiti? Now she wasn't stupid enough to think that nobody else would use this bathroom but it was in a hall with only 3 other classes- all 5th year and up. And the only person that Hermione had ever seen in here… that's when it clicked. The only other person she'd ever seen in here was Pansy Parkinson. And Pansy had caught her crying and must have decided to fix things without telling Hermione.

Hermione laughed, a choked sound escaping from between her pink lips. She reread everything with a new eye that came from knowing who'd written in the silver ink. She hadn't known Pansy had thought that they were friends but the more she thought about it, they were. They stuck up for each other when they were called cruel names relating to their parentage and their bad choices; they spoke regularly and in friendly tones. If she would be honest, Hermione knew more about Pansy then she did about Lavender and Pavarti- the two girls she had shared a room with for 6 or 7 years.

The curly haired girl stepped out of the stall beaming. She knew what she had to do next. She ran back to her class to get her bag, impatiently waiting for all the students to leave the room. Pansy and Hermione were the only ones left. Even Professor Vector had gone. As the Slytherin girl put away her notes, Hermione approached her and cleared her throat. Pansy looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you want something Granger?" She asked. Her tone was the same as any other day, bored and slightly impatient as though she had more important things to do then talk. Hermione felt a little doubt creep inside of her. Was she absolutely positive Pansy had written those things and not just some do-gooder who felt sorry for the girl?

Pansy tucked her short black hair behind her ear, the silver ink on her hands catching the light. Hermione's doubt disappeared. Yes, she was positive. The witch took a deep breath and then gathered Pansy into a huge, simply bone-crushing hug. Pansy's eyes widened and she stood there stiffly for a few seconds before relaxing and returning the hug.

Hermione drew back with a bright smile. And picked up Pansy's book bag, handing it to the taller girl.

"Thanks." She whispered, beaming. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Granger it isn't a big deal. Just… Keep your mouth shut about it. Can you imagine if the school found out I was nice sometimes?" Pansy shuddered. "It would ruin the reputation I've been cultivating all these years." And with that parting remark, she strode out of the classroom leaving Hermione alone, still with the happy look on her face. And while some people might say that they would later see the Gryffindor Lioness and the Slytherin Queen at Hogsmeade of talking cordially in the library, when asked, the two would always shake their heads and change the subject. And never once did they speak of the bathroom graffiti again. However, later in the year when Pansy found some crude drawings of herself in the bathroom in sexual positions, the next day they were scribbled over in gold ink and when Pansy walked into the Great Hall for dinner, she glanced at the Golden Trio, all laughing at something that Weasley had said, something gleaming caught her eye. Hermione's hands were stained with gold ink.

~FIN~

Deleo-Latin for erase

_Written- 6/3/14_

_Word Count- 2,183_

**So what did you think? Please Review and Favorite my work! I love knowing what you think. Click on my profile to see updates from me about what's next to be posted or new story ideas I'm considering. Check out my other stories too. **** Until next time,**

**Little Kisses**

**Soundtrack-**

**Get On Your Knees And Tell Me You Love- All Time Low**

**Stronger-Kelly Clarkson**

**Anklebiters-Paramore**

**Survivor-Gloria Gaynor**

**If You Can't Hang – Sleeping with Sirens**

**Postcards and Polaroids-Sleeping With Sirens**


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